Jakarta, Kominfo-Newsroom -- Tanjung Priok customs and duty officers have foiled an attempt at smuggling Rp 1.5 billion worth of textiles and textile products (TPT) by way of describing the items as hardware, foodstuffs and hard tools.
''On Sept. 20, 2006 Customs and Duty officers got information that three containers loaded with TPT were about to be smuggled into Indonesia on board the MV Sinar Batam which took off from Singapore harbor,'' said the chief of the Tanjung Priok Customs and Duty office, Heru Santoso, here Wednesday (27/9).
Due to absence of the necessay documents, customs officers had a look at the contents of the three containers. There are 382 rolls of tgextiles and 355 packages each containing 80 pieces of knitted garments and 641 boxes of textiles.
Companies doing the import are not registered and do not have the required documentation and have never carried out imports through Tanjung Priok harbor, Santoso said.
Undetected, the act of smuggling would have caused the government to lose Rp526. 8 million worth of import tax and duty.
If the smuggled TPT reached the market, domestic textile industries would be hard-hit due to unsound competition.
On another occasion, customs officers thwarted an attempt to smuggle 293 stalks of rattan to China. The exporter, WB (36), said the consignment of asbestos is to be shipped to Lih Chun Rattan Co. Ltd. (China).
Undetected, the smuggling would mean a loss of Rp 21.6 million worth of export tax and duty.
Rattan is considerably scarce here and is the raw material for the handicraft and furniture industry.
---T.RMG/id/ton---
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